3.17 Poorer levels of general health

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3.0 Background

3.1 Tobacco—a leading preventable cause of death and disease

3.2 Cardiovascular diseases

3.3 Lung cancer

3.4 Respiratory diseases

3.5 Other cancers caused by or associated with smoking

3.6 Reproductive health and smoking

3.7 Pregnancy and smoking

3.8 Infant health and smoking

3.9 Increased susceptibility to infection in smokers

3.10 Eye diseases

3.11 Dental diseases

3.12 Gastrointestinal diseases

3.13 Bone density and risk of fractures

3.14 Effects of smoking on the skin

3.15 Smoking and complications in medical treatment

3.16 Smoking and diabetes

3.17 Poorer levels of general health

3.18 Smoking, motor vehicle crashes and other injuries

3.19 Burns and fires caused by tobacco use

3.20 Tobacco poisoning

3.21 Health effects for younger smokers

3.22 Genetic influences on tobacco-caused disease

3.23 Smoking, dementia and cognitive decline

3.24 Lung disease, smoking and occupational exposures

3.25 Air pollution, cigarette smoking and ill health

3.26 Health effects of smoking brands that claim to deliver lower levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide

3.27 Health effects of smoking tobacco in other forms

3.28 Health 'benefits' of smoking?

3.29 Morbidity (ill health) attributable to tobacco-caused disease

3.30 Deaths attributable to tobacco by disease category

3.31 Morbidity and mortality due to tobacco-caused disease and socioeconomic disadvantage

3.32 Health effects of smoking other substances

3.33 Health effects of chewing tobacco, and of other smokeless tobacco products

3.34 Public perceptions of tobacco as a drug, and knowledge and beliefs about the health consequences of smoking

3.35 Health benefits of cessation

3.36 The global tobacco pandemic

Acknowledgments

References

Smokers experience a poorer level of overall general health than non-smokers.5

Taking into account possible confounding factors such as alcohol use, socioeconomic background, age and gender, smokers also report higher levels of tiredness or fatigue, reduced wellbeing and satisfaction with life, slightly lower self-reported measures of mental wellbeing, and increased incidence of psychological symptoms such as depressed mood and anxiety. In the elderly, smoking is associated with accelerated declines in physical function, and increased levels of clinical illness and physical and cognitive impairment.5 Smokers are also more likely to report a history of pain during health examinations.101

It is understood that the circulation throughout the body of toxic constituents of tobacco smoke causes a number of diseases of many organs, as detailed in the preceding sections. The widespread distribution of tobacco smoke components may also be responsible for a more general decrement in health, through altered inflammatory/immune processes, oxidative stress and subclinical organ injury.5

Smokers are also more likely to experience sleep disturbances, including taking longer to fall asleep, being less likely to stay asleep, and having less total sleep time than non-smokers.102, 103

3.17.1 Smoking and absence from work due to illness

Smokers are more likely to miss work due to ill-health, have longer duration of absence from work, and access all levels of medical care more frequently. Work absences are reportedly higher in smokers resulting from a broad range of symptoms, including problems with the digestive tract, neck, back and upper limbs. These effects are evident in younger smokers, before the effects of major tobacco-caused disease become apparent during middle age and later years.5 There is also substantial evidence that smokers are more likely to suffer injury in the workplace than non-smokers.5

Australian data show that men who smoke are 66% more likely to be absent from work than male never-smokers, and that female smokers are 23% more likely to miss work than female never-smokers.104 This in turn has a major quantifiable economic impact on the nation's productivity.7 For further discussion, see Chapter 17.